Method and apparatus for transporting sausage to a treatment room

ABSTRACT

A method is for transporting one or more sausages provided with a suspension member into a treatment room. The sausages are placed in a holder in a desired position. A number of holders with the sausages therein are disposed adjacently of each other in the desired position, so that a stick or tube can be inserted through the holders in order to allow the sausages to be transported to the treatment room and to remain there adjacently of each other.

In large parts of Europe as well as outside Europe, so-called smokedsausages are produced and consumed in large numbers. The productionthereof is usually highly automated. Examples hereof are described inthe international patent application PCT/NL91/00154, American U.S. Pat.No. 5,100,364 and European patent applications EP-A-0 048 507 and EP-A-0498 127.

Such a production for instance takes place at a speed in the order ofmagnitude of 50 sausages per minute. The sausages are then suspended ina smoke room for 24 hours for instance in numbers of 100 sticks, eachwith 15 to 17 sausages on a piece of string.

In current practice the suspending of sausages from a stick in a smokeroom takes place manually. Proposals to also automate the suspension ofsausages on the string have not yet resulted in a practical solution.

The present invention provides a method for transporting sausagesprovided with a suspension member into a treatment room, wherein thesausages are placed in a holder in a desired position, and wherein apredetermined number of holders with the sausages therein are disposedadjacently of each other in the desired position, so that a stick ortube can be inserted through the holders in order to allow the sausagesto be transported to the treatment room and to remain there adjacentlyof each other.

The present invention further provides an apparatus for transporting oneor more sausages provided with a suspension member into a treatmentroom, comprising a holder for receiving a sausage, and one or moreconveyors for transporting filled respectively emptied cassettes fromand to a supply of the sausages.

An inexpensive and elegant embodiment results if use is made of a feedconveyor for feeding cassettes filled with sausage to a part of thedischarge cassettes where a stick or tube can be placed through theopening in cassettes and the sausages can be lifted out of thecassettes.

In a preferred embodiment the apparatus comprises sausage decentringmeans for holding the sausage out of the centre of the holder. Sometypes of sausage, such as less firm sausages or sausages with forinstance a natural intestine, can collapse in the holder, whereby theycome to lie at the position of the opening of the cassettes throughwhich the stick or tube is inserted. The sausage may for instance bedamaged hereby or the normal operation of the apparatus may beobstructed. The sausage decentring means prevent this by holding thesausage out of centre or outside the opening location of the cassette.

In a further embodiment the decentring means comprise suction means forplacing substantially on the top part of the holder. One solution isthat the sausages are held fast by means of suction means, such as forinstance suction cups, thereby preventing collapse of the sausage.

In another embodiment the holder comprises suction channels in the sidesof the holder for drawing the sausage to the side of the holder. Thisembodiment of suction means also provides that the openings of thecassettes are each efficiently kept clear of blocking parts of thesausage during insertion of the stick or tube through the opening of thecassettes.

The apparatus preferably further comprises pumping means for applyingsuction force in the suction means or suction channels. The suction cupscan also be energized hereby.

In a further embodiment the apparatus comprises drive means for rotatingthe stick or tube. Through rotation of the tube sausages are positionedover the tube such that they come to be suspended on the tube with thesuspension member upward.

In order to improve this process the drive means comprise means forvarying the rotation speed of the stick or tube. This preferably takesplace by means of eccentrically driven drive wheels. Such a drive withvariations in the rotation speed has the advantage that the sausageshanging at any given moment over the tube with parts of the sausage aredriven in jolting manner, whereby the rotation of the sausage round thetube or stick proceeds better.

In a further preferred embodiment the apparatus and method are providedwith holding means, preferably in the form of a hingedly arrangedratchet, for holding a string of the sausage relative to a rod,preferably provided with diabolos, in order to hold the sausage in thecorrect position via the string.

Holder detection means such as an electronic eye are arranged so as todetect the desired position, i.e. to detect the position of the string,whereafter the sausage has to remain in this desired position.

In the more rudimentary preferred embodiment, an apparatus according tothe present invention comprises supply means for the sticks; cassettesprovided with slots, while the sticks are moved upward, optionally inmechanical manner, after placing through the cassettes, and aredischarged to a smoke room.

Further advantages, features and details of the present invention willbe elucidated on the basis of the following description of a preferredembodiment thereof, with reference to the annexed figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic top view in perspective of a first preferredembodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention forperforming a preferred embodiment of a method according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show a perspective view of detail II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partly schematic view in perspective of a furtherpreferred embodiment and apparatus according to the present invention;and

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partly schematic view in perspective of a further embodimentand apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a detail of the embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a further detail of the embodiment ofFIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a further embodiment according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are front views of a detail of a further embodimentaccording to the present invention in two positions;

FIG. 10 is a view of a detail of a further embodiment according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a view of a detail of a further preferred embodiment of anapparatus and method according to the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a view of a further preferred embodiment of the apparatus andmethod according to the present invention.

An in many cases mechanically produced (smoked) sausage S is carriedinto a cassette 2 via a narrowing slide chute 1, whereafter the cassette2 is displaced laterally by pusher member 3 to a conveyor device 4,which is disposed adjacently of a conveyor device 5 where cassettes 2for filling are supplied. Cassettes 2 filled with sausages S aretransported in the direction of arrow A, for instance using secondpusher member 6 and belts 7 of conveyor 4. After a predetermined numberof cassettes, for instance about twenty, filled with sausages haveaccumulated close to an end of conveyor 4, this predetermined number ispushed using a third pusher member 8 to a conveyor part 9, where a stickor rod 10 is inserted through the opening in the cassettes and movedupward in order to lift the smoked sausages simultaneously out of theirassociated cassettes in automatic manner and displace them to a smokeroom. Using conveyor 5 the emptied cassettes are then subsequentlycarried to a position close to pusher member 3, where the abovedescribed cycle can be repeated.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2A and 2B, cassette 2 is formed and provided onboth sides with slotted recesses 22 such that a stick or tube 10 caneasily be inserted therein beneath a piece of string or cord 23. Even ifsausage S has come to lie slightly askew in the cassette, some movementof the stick back and forth relative to the cassettes will enable thesausage to be lifted easily from the cassette.

In the preferred embodiment drawn in FIG. 1 the cassette directed towardthe slide chute is clamped and moved sideways by a pusher member. Assoon as the cassette is filled with a sausage, it is placed by a secondpusher member 6 on a conveyor 4, which can for instance runcontinuously. In a manner not shown the predetermined number ofcassettes can be counted using a counting means (not shown), and as soonas the number has been reached, be transferred by a pusher member 8 to apart 9 which can be driven independently of the other part of conveyorbelt 5.

In the further developed preferred embodiment according to FIGS. 3 and4, the diverse similar components are provided with the same referencenumerals as said preferred embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2. In astick supply station 31 a stick is inserted through the recesses in thecassettes, and the sausages are subsequently lifted out of the cassettesand rotated in one (or two) direction(s) by lifting device 32 in orderto ensure a correct positioning of the sausages.

In a further preferred embodiment (not shown) an additional stick supplystation can be placed preceding the stick supply station 31 and betweenthe conveyor with filled cassettes and this stick supply station,wherein diabolo-shaped protrusions are arranged on the stick at eachposition of a cassette in order to lift the sausages slightly out of thecassettes and to cause the sausages to hang on the strings by rotatingthe stick with the diabolos thereon. Thus is ensured that the sausagescome to lie as straight as possible in the cassettes, i.e. with thestring at the top. For coarse sausages the diabolos can be provided withrecesses to prevent friction occurring between sausage and stick whenthis latter is rotated. The sticks from the subsequent stick supplystation can also be made rotatable for the same purpose.

FIG. 5 shows a preferred embodiment which corresponds by and large withthe preferred embodiment of FIG. 3, wherein the reference numerals ofsimilar components are the same. The diabolos already mentioned aboveare arranged on shaft 43. A shaft 41 provided with pins 42, togetherforming a so-called comb, is further provided on lifting device 32 forpositioning the sausages at regular distances.

Lifting device 32 is shown in detail in FIG. 6. This shows the shaft 41with pins 42. The sausages which have been lifted out of holders 2 bymeans of shaft 41 are not necessarily hanging positioned precisely atthe same distance relative to each other. In order to achieve such acorrect positioning, shaft 41 is rotated as according to the arrow in amanner such that teeth 42 are placed between strings 44 of the sausages.Shaft 41 is then moved so far that each string comes to a stop against atooth, whereby all the strings are positioned at equal distances alongshaft 41 through being held in place by teeth 42. The sausages arehereby suspended in very regular manner from shaft 41. It is alsoconceivable that, instead of being rotated, shaft 41 is displacedperpendicularly of its central axis in order to place the teeth 42between the strings.

FIG. 7 shows a further preferred embodiment of shaft 43 with thediabolos. In this figure the holders 2 are situated at a position in theapparatus of FIG. 5 such that shaft 43 with diabolos 49 can be insertedthrough the holder and the sausage in a manner such that the diaboloscan engage in the respective sausages. One purpose hereof is that, sincethe sausages are placed at random in the holders and it is essentialthat strings 44 are situated at the top, the sausages can be turnedusing the diabolos. If after placing of the sausage in the holder, thestring is situated on the underside of the holder, the sausage must beturned. For this purpose the shaft 43 is inserted through apredetermined number of, for instance 20, holders and sausages and thenlifted upward. If shaft 43 with diabolos 49 now begins to rotate, thesausage will co-rotate due to friction forces between the diabolo andthe sausage until the string reaches the diabolo. At that moment thevery much smaller friction force between the string and the diabolo,together with the force of gravity on the sausage, will bring to an endthe rotation of the sausage, and the sausage will remain suspended overshaft 43 in the correct position. Shaft 43 is moved slightly downwardand moved out of the array of holders. In this embodiment the openingsof the holders take a slightly round form whereby opening 46 cannot forman obstruction to the moving in and out of shaft 43 with the diabolos.

It is recommended to embody a number of, for instance 20, holdersintegrally. This is possible according to the above describedembodiments by means of for instance magnets 47 for snapping separateholders together. It is however also recommended to use large holderswith 20 compartments, which have the same function as 20 separateholders snapped together.

In this embodiment the drive of the rotating stick 82 (FIG. 8) takes avariable form. For this purpose a drive motor 71 is connectedeccentrically to toothed wheel 72 at the position of hole 75. Toothedwheels 72,73 and 74 are mounted on supports 79 and 80 which are movablerelative to each other. Toothed wheel 72 drives toothed wheel 73 andtoothed wheel 73 drives toothed wheel 74. Because toothed wheel 72 isdriven eccentrically, toothed wheel 73 will be driven with variablespeed by toothed wheel 72, whereby toothed wheel 74 likewise acquires avariable speed if drive motor 71 drives at a constant rotation speed.This is achieved in that the part of toothed wheel 72 on the side ofeccentric drive point 75 uses a smaller number of toothed wheel teethper unit of time compared to toothed wheel 73 for the purpose of drivingtoothed wheel 73. By means of a transmission 81 (not further shown) theshaft 78 passing through toothed wheel 74 drives the tube 82 for holdingup the sausages. Further shown on this tube 82 is a diabolo 83, whichdiabolos are used to position sausages as described above.

FIG. 9 shows a cross-section of a holder 2 having therein a sausage S.Clearly shown is that a sausage can block the passage (9B). In order toprevent this, this embodiment is provided with suction cups 92, 93 whichare provided with air suction hoses through which air L is drawn off.Opening 0 is hereby open. Contour 91 shows the side walls of the insideof the holder in which the sausage is located. Contour 46 shows the formof the side walls of the holder as this is also shown in FIG. 7. In thisembodiment however, the opening is rather more round and the verticalopening of the side walls is wide such that a tube can still just bemoved upward therethrough to pick up the sausage from the holder.

In a further embodiment (not shown) the side walls 95,96 of the holderare provided with air channels which can draw a sausage in sidewarddirection, whereby the sausage will not block the opening. Such anembodiment has the advantage that the decentring means or suction meansdo not have to be positioned after placing of the sausage.

In a further embodiment (FIG. 9) the tubes for holding the sausage, onwhich the sausage will be placed in the smoke room, are provided withslots such that if the sausage hangs with the strings on the stick andthese are optionally positioned by means of pins 42 (FIG. 5), asdescribed in the foregoing, such that the strings have entered theslots, the sausages will not shift easily when the tubes are displacedfrom the sausage suspension device to the smoke room. This the advantagefor instance that displacement of the tubes becomes simpler and thatthis displacement does not have to be performed in exaggeratedlycautious manner.

In a further embodiment a sausage S (FIG. 11) is held in place on anaxis 101 by a ratchet 102 which is arranged hingedly on a transverseaxis 103 and which due to its own weight falls between two diabolomembers 104.

Tests have shown that the combinations of ratchets and diabolos operatevery well, i.e. it was possible with the newest embodiment to operatefor a long time without disruption, wherein less than a minute wasrequired to obtain a stick with sausages. The machine also operatedwithout problem for loosely filled sausages; with a correct adjustmentof the ratchet all sausages were hung straight.

In a further preferred embodiment of an apparatus 120 (FIG. 12)according to the present invention, a cassette 121 with a number ofholders 122, for instance twenty, each provided with a slot, is suppliedvia a conveyor 123, while sticks 124 are supplied via an incline 125from a supply 126. Using an infeed mechanism 127 the sticks are placedthrough the slots in the cassette, while using a combined lift-clampmechanism 128 the sticks are clamped fixedly and then moved upward,whereafter the sticks filled with sausages can be discharged to thesmoke room, in the present case for instance by hand.

It will be apparent that many variations of the above describedpreferred embodiments can be envisaged; the rights sought are defined bythe scope of the following claims.

1. A method comprising: placing sausages in respective holders toprovide loaded holders; disposing a number of the loaded holdersadjacently of each other; and inserting at least one of a stick and tubethrough the number of the loaded holders.
 2. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein placing the sausages comprises moving the sausages intothe holders via a slide chute.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 2,further comprising holding the sausages out of centers of the loadedholders using decentering means.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3,wherein the sausage decentering means comprise suction meanssubstantially at the position of the top part of each of the holders. 5.The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the suction means include anair pump.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of theloaded holders is provided with suction channels which draw the sausageagainst side walls of the loaded holder.
 7. The method as claimed inclaim 6, wherein the suction channels include an air pump.
 8. The methodas claimed in claim 1, further comprising carrying the loaded holders toa first conveyor belt where the loaded holders are disposed adjacentlyof each other up to the number.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 1,further comprising carrying the number of loaded holders to a secondconveyor belt, whereafter the stick or tube is placed through the loadedholders.
 10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of theholders is provided with a slot for inserting at least one of the stickand tube therethrough.